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  • Anatomy of the lung in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the lung in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the spleen in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the heart in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the large intestine in ancient Chinese medicine
  • Anatomy of the large intestine in ancient Chinese medicine
  • Anatomy of the stomach in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the stomach in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the small intestine in ancient Chinese medicine
  • Anatomy of the spleen in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the gall bladder in ancient Chinese medicine
  • Anatomy of the kidney in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the bladder in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • Anatomy of the heart in ancient Chinese medicine, woodcut
  • History of Chinese medicine : being a chronicle of medical happenings in China from ancient times to the present period / by K. Chimin Wong and Wu Lien-Teh.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • Aesculapius and other ancients are presented with exotic materia medica from the far east, which are turned into medicines in a pharmaceutical elaboratory. Oil painting by Johannes Prey, 1791.
  • Ancient herbalists and scholars of medicinal lore (Galen, Pliny, Hippocrates etc.); and Venus and Adonis in the gardens of Adonis. Woodcut, 1532.
  • Ancient herbalists and scholars of medicinal lore (Galen, Pliny, Hippocrates etc.); and Venus and Adonis in the gardens of Adonis. Woodcut, 1532.
  • Ancient herbalists and scholars of medicinal lore (Galen, Pliny, Hippocrates etc.); and Venus and Adonis in the gardens of Adonis. Woodcut, 1532.
  • Ancient herbalists and scholars of medicinal lore (Galen, Pliny, Hippocrates etc.); and Venus and Adonis in the gardens of Adonis. Woodcut, 1532.
  • Valeriana officinalis L. Valerianaceae Valerianus, Phu, Nardus sylvestris, Setwal. Distribution: Europe. Popular herbalism attributes sedation to Valerian, but this is not mentioned by Coles (1657) or Gerard (1633) or Lobel (1576) or Lyte (1578) or Dioscorides (ex Gunther, 1959) or Fuchs (1553), where he quotes Pliny, Dioscorides and Galen, or Parkinson (1640), or Pomet (1712). The English translation of Tournefort (1719-1730) covers a whole page of the uses of all the different valerians, but never mentions sedation or treating anxiety. Quincy (1718) does not mention it. Because it was used in epilepsy, for which Woodville (1792) says it was useless, Haller, in his Historia stirpium indegenarum Helvetae inchoatae (1768) advocates it for those with irritability of the nervous system, as does Thomson's London Dispensatory (1811) although he lists it as an 'antispasmodic and stimulant' and for inducing menstruation. Lindley (1838) notes (as many did) that the roots smell terrible and that this makes cats excited, and in man, in large doses, induce 'scintillations, agitation and even convulsions' so used in asthenic fever, epilepsy, chorea, hysteria and as an antihelminthic.' Fluckiger & Hanbury (1879) give a wonderful account of the history of its names, but give its use as 'stimulant and antispasmodic' as do Barton & Castle (1877). but by 1936 (Martindale's Extra Pharmacopoeia) its only use was 'Given in hysterical and neurotic conditions as a sedative. Its action has been attributed to its unpleasant smell'. The European Medicines Agency (2006) approves its use as a traditional herbal medicine for mild anxiety and sleeplessness for up to 4 weeks. Despite what is written continuously about its use in ancient Greece and Rome, the only reason for its use has been because it was thought, for a brief while, to be good for epilepsy and therefore might deal with persons of a nervous disposition because of its foul smell. It has been suggested that even its Greek name, 'Phu' came from the expression of disgust which is made when one sniffs an unpleasant odour. For 1,800 years, before the last century, no-one had thought it sedative. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Magnolia stellata (Siebold & Zuch.) Maxim. Magnoliaceae. Star magnolia. Small flowering tree. Distribution: Japan. Named for the French botanist and physician, Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), Professor of Botany and Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Montpelier. Charles Plumier (1646-1704) named a tree on Martinique after him (Magnolia) and the name was continued by Linnaeus (1753). No medicinal use. This is a very ancient genus of flowering plants. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Myrtus communis L. Myrtaceae Myrtle Distribution: Europe. Dioscorides (Beck, 2005) recommends the fruit for treating haemoptysis (‘spitting blood’) and cystitis, and, if boiled, he said it made a fine wine. In various forms it was used as a hair dye, for sore eyes, anal and uterine prolapse, dandruff and shingles, all sorts of inflammations, scorpion bites and even sweaty armpits. Our plant has white berries, but he regarded those with black berries (they become black later in the season) as being more effective. Lyte (1576) adds that the juice of the berries kept the hair black and stopped it falling out, and prevented intoxication. He notes that it only flowered in hot summers in England, but it is reliable in flower now, either due to global warming or selection of suitable clones. According to Lyte, it is named after Merlyne, a fair maiden of Athens in ancient Greece, who judged the athletic games. Slain by a disgruntled competitor, the goddess Minerva brought her back as the myrtle tree in perpetual memory. The myrtle tree is also an ancient Jewish symbol for peace and justice. Myrtle wine is still made in Tuscany and now even in China. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Paeonia officinalis L. Paeoniaceae, European Peony, Distribution: Europe. The peony commemorates Paeon, physician to the Gods of ancient Greece (Homer’s Iliad v. 401 and 899, circa 800 BC). Paeon, came to be associated as being Apollo, Greek god of healing, poetry, the sun and much else, and father of Aesculapius/Asclepias. Theophrastus (circa 300 BC), repeated by Pliny, wrote that if a woodpecker saw one collecting peony seed during the day, it would peck out one’s eyes, and (like mandrake) the roots had to be pulled up at night by tying them to the tail of a dog, and one’s ‘fundament might fall out’ [anal prolapse] if one cut the roots with a knife. Theophrastus commented ‘all this, however, I take to be so much fiction, most frivolously invented to puff up their supposed marvellous properties’. Dioscorides (70 AD, tr. Beck, 2003) wrote that 15 of its black seeds, drunk with wine, were good for nightmares, uterine suffocation and uterine pains. Officinalis indicates it was used in the offices, ie the clinics, of the monks in the medieval era. The roots, hung round the neck, were regarded as a cure for epilepsy for nearly two thousand years, and while Galen would have used P. officinalis, Parkinson (1640) recommends the male peony (P. mascula) for this. He also recommends drinking a decoction of the roots. Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737), published by the College of Physicians, explains that it was used to cure febrile fits in children, associated with teething. Although she does not mention it, these stop whatever one does. Parkinson also reports that the seeds are used for snake bite, uterine bleeding, people who have lost the power of speech, nightmares and melancholy. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Paeonia officinalis L. Paeoniaceae, European Peony, Distribution: Europe. The peony commemorates Paeon, physician to the Gods of ancient Greece (Homer’s Iliad v. 401 and 899, circa 800 BC). Paeon, came to be associated as being Apollo, Greek god of healing, poetry, the sun and much else, and father of Aesculapius/Asclepias. Theophrastus (circa 300 BC), repeated by Pliny, wrote that if a woodpecker saw one collecting peony seed during the day, it would peck out one’s eyes, and (like mandrake) the roots had to be pulled up at night by tying them to the tail of a dog, and one’s ‘fundament might fall out’ [anal prolapse] if one cut the roots with a knife. Theophrastus commented ‘all this, however, I take to be so much fiction, most frivolously invented to puff up their supposed marvellous properties’. Dioscorides (70 AD, tr. Beck, 2003) wrote that 15 of its black seeds, drunk with wine, were good for nightmares, uterine suffocation and uterine pains. Officinalis indicates it was used in the offices, ie the clinics, of the monks in the medieval era. The roots, hung round the neck, were regarded as a cure for epilepsy for nearly two thousand years, and while Galen would have used P. officinalis, Parkinson (1640) recommends the male peony (P. mascula) for this. He also recommends drinking a decoction of the roots. Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737), published by the College of Physicians, explains that it was used to cure febrile fits in children, associated with teething. Although she does not mention it, these stop whatever one does. Parkinson also reports that the seeds are used for snake bite, uterine bleeding, people who have lost the power of speech, nightmares and melancholy. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Votive bust of Aesculapius.